Page 122 of The Pearl Sister
‘I know it isn’t funny, quite the opposite, but . . .’ He drew in a few deep breaths and gazed at her. ‘Kitty, do you really not know me?’
‘Of course I do, darling.’ Kitty was already wondering how she could get Andrew back to the cart and take him straight to Dr Suzuki. It was obvious he had quite lost his mind. ‘You’re my husband and the father of our child, Charlie.’
‘Then I have truly done it!’ he cried, punching the air. ‘For God’s sake, Kitty, it’sme!
He pulled her to him then and kissed her hungrily, passionately. And as her body melted into his, she knew exactly who he was.
‘No!’
She wrenched herself away from his grasp, sobbing with shock and confusion. ‘Stop it! Please, stop it! You’re Andrew, my husband . . . myhusband!’ She sank to her knees. ‘Please, stop playing games,’ she begged him. ‘Whatever it is you want me to admit, I’ll admit it. Just please, stop!’
A pair of strong arms came around her shoulders. ‘Forgive me, Kitty, but I had to do this to ensure that everyone believed Iwasyour husband, including you. If I was convincing enough to fool the person who knows us best, then I could fool anyone. If you had known, then the merest look or touch could have given us away. Now even Charlie is convinced I’m his father. Oh, my darling girl . . .’ His fingers skimmed down her arms and he kissed her sweating neck gently.
‘No!’ Kitty pulled away. ‘How could you do this to me?! How could you? Impersonating your own brother back from the dead! It’s . . . outrageous.’
‘Kitty, can’t you understand? It’s love!’
‘I understand nothing! All I know is that you have fooled us all! You have masqueraded as my dead husband, allowed my child to believe his father is back from the grave, shown yourself to the townsfolk and presented yourself as Andrew at his office!’
‘And they believe me, Kitty. They believed I was Andrew, as you did. The idea came to me when I thought of the last time I’d come to visit, and the townsfolk – and you initially – believed I was Andrew. Yes.’ His arms dropped away from her shoulders. ‘I have lied – a terrible lie – but I had to take this opportunity. So, when I heard what had happened and made my way overland, I formulated my plan.’
‘So you knew before Port Hedland?’
‘Of course Iknew! Good God, even the kookaburras hundreds of miles from here were shouting the news from the trees. It is the biggest tragedy to hit the region in decades.’
‘So, you decided to impersonate your brother?’
‘There has to be some advantage to having an identical twin. I’ve certainly never seen one before, but then I realised that perhaps it had all been for a reason. I consulted the heavens for advice as I sat alone by my campfire in the desert. They told me that life is very short on this earth. And although I may have been able to marry you one day when it was seemly to do so, the thought of wasting perhaps years being apart from you seemed pointless when I could come back and claim you as mine now. We could be together as man and wife, and everyone would rejoice that I was saved and—’
‘Drummond.’ Kitty used his name for the first time. ‘I think you must be mad. Do you not understand the implications of what you have done?’
‘Perhaps not all, but most of them, yes. I just wished to be with you. Is that so wrong?’
‘So you are prepared to change your identity and lie to every single person other than me about who you really are?’
‘If that’s what this takes, then yes. To be honest, I’m still stunned that my impression of Andrew was so excellent that no one questioned it!’
‘You have been far too fierce with me. In fact, you have been perfectly horrible.’
‘Then I shall tone down my behaviour towards you from now on.’
‘Drummond . . .’ Kitty was lost for words at his grotesque disregard for the gravity of his charade.
‘From now on you must call me Andrew,’ he replied.
‘I will call you what I choose to. Good God! This is not a game, Drummond. What you have done is completely immoral, even illegal! How can you wear your deception so lightly?’
‘I don’t know, but I look out there and picture my father and brother dead at the bottom of the ocean, already picked to nothing by sharks. And I think of you, Kitty, who almost left me too when you were so sick. I simply understand now how precious life is. So yes,’ he agreed, ‘I wear it lightly.’ Kitty turned away from him, trying to process the ramifications of what he had done.
To be with her . . .
‘I must admit that I am surprised you didn’t guess, even though I did my best to remain distanced from you physically.’ Drummond had removed his shoes and socks and was stepping out of his trousers. ‘For a start, surely you knew Andrew well enough to realise that he would never travel overland by horse and cart? In fact, I travelled to Broome by camel as usual, but I decided a cart sounded more realistic.’
‘Yes, I did think it strange, but at the time I had no reason to believe my husband would lie,’ she replied coldly. ‘Perhaps now you can tell me how you came to be saved.’
‘It was Andrew who asked me to leave theKoombanaat Geraldton. He gave me a briefcase of money and told me where I must meet his contact and he showed me a photograph of what I was to collect in return. In short, he confessed himself too frightened to make the journey himself, and knew I had far more experience navigating Australia’s hinterland. Given that I was about to elope with his wife and son on my return, I felt it was the least I could do. A last good deed, if you will.’
‘And what was it you had to collect?’
